Tuesday, January 31, 2006

In the past, the US has joined with the Vatican and Muslim countries to keep women's sexuality under wraps, so to speak (see: any of the UN Conferences on Women --ie, Beijing 1995). Now the US has joined a coalition of the willful homophobic nations--Zimbabwe, Sudan, Iran & China --in a bid to deny advocates of sexual minorities (read: gay, lesbian, bi-, transgendered, and let's throw in women) access to the United Nations as NGO (non-governmental organizations).Democracy & Human Rights, anyone?

WASHINGTON - The governments of the United States and Iran--part of President George W. Bush's ''axis of evil'' and his current nuclear bete noire--demonstrated rare unity of cause this past week when Washington backed a Tehran initiative to deny UN access to advocates of sexual minorities' rights...

''This vote is an aggressive assault by the U.S. government on the right of sexual minorities to be heard,'' said Scott Long, director of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.''It is astonishing that the Bush administration would align itself with Sudan, China, Iran, and Zimbabwe in a coalition of the homophobic,'' Long said.

Dr.JAM is a professor of Political Science and Women's Studies at Marist College, Poughkeepsie NY. Her main focus is teaching students to be critical thinkers and active citizens. She worked in both the Koch and Cuomo administrations before returning to academia. She teaches Modern Political Thought, Contemporary Ideologies, Feminist Political Thought, American National Government, Political Ideas and Issues, Political and Social Movements, among other courses.
She writes a regular column (Walk the Talk) in InsideOut (tm). She has written many articles and books including The Historical Dictionary of the Lesbian Liberation Movement: Still the Rage (Rowman Littlefield, 2003). An active citizen, she served on the boards of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater (where she once was cook); The Grace Smith House,currently she serves on the (executive) boards of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at ValKill and the Ulster County Democratic Women. $>